The Holy of Holies (2)

 

 

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one” (John 17:22).

 

How is it that Jesus says that He is giving His glory to us, and yet in Isaiah 42:8 God says, “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images [idols]”?

 

For sure our God does not give His glory to idols, but do we really believe that He doesn’t? Are we asking God to give His glory to the idols we have made in life and in religion? Do we not have household idols (as ancient peoples did), community idols, national idols, professional and vocational idols? Are we honest enough to consider that we just might have religious idols, Christianized idols? Have we crafted our brand of Christianity into an idol?

 

 Does our speech and teaching reveal our idols?

 

As to the idea that God does not give His glory to another, this can help us understand what Jesus says about giving His glory to us – for in giving His glory to us He does not give His glory to another for we are One in the Father and the Son and in the Holy Spirit. We have no oneness apart from the Oneness of the Trinity. There are not two onenesses.

 

That is, we do not look at the Trinty and see Oneness and then look at ourselves and see oneness; for we cannot have oneness with a lower case “o,” such oneness is impossible. Hence, in Christ we know koinonia in the Trinity, and knowing koinonia in the Trinity is knowing the Oneness of the Trinity; this is ineffable, it is the Holy of Holies.  

 

Recall that Jesus says, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (17:5).

 

Jesus also prays, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me” (17:24).

 

As the Father gives His glory to Jesus, so Jesus gives His glory to us; so that the world may know that the Father sent the Son and that the Father loves us even as He loves Jesus.

 

O dear friends, let us not forget that we “are all from one Father” (Hebrews 2:11) and that our Father is “bringing many sons to glory” (Heb. 2:10).

 

As Jesus comes to us, as He comes into the world, He comes “to be glorified in His saints,” He comes that “the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him” (2 Thess. 1:10 – 12).

 

Let us remind one another that we are “heirs of God and coheirs with Christ,” that there is a glory “being revealed in us,” and that we are in the process of glorification in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:17, 18, 30).

 

We are the Body of Christ, we are the Bride of Christ; one with Him. Being one with Him, when He gives His glory to us He does not give His glory to another, for we are in the Us of John 17:21.

 

We have seen this coming in our approach to John 17. Jesus gives us a glimpse in John 14:23 in the Upper Room, “My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”

 

Jesus emphasizes our unity in Him with the Vine and the branches, “Abide in Me, and I in you…apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:1 – 5). The Vine, Jesus Christ, is our sole source of life.

 

There is only one person who can live the Christian life, that Person is God.

 

All of our little self-help idols which demand worship, all of our idols crafted into religious images (as Christianized as they may be), all of our pragmatic programs, lead us deeper and deeper into bondage and away from the liberty of Jesus Christ, away from the koinonia of the Trinity, away from glorious Oneness with one another in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

No wineskin can contain the glory of the Holy Trinity, no wineskin can contain God’s unfolding glory; how foolish to force others into straightjackets, how silly not to desire God’s glory rather than glory for our fiefdoms and images.

 

I heard a denominational leader saying that he hoped that 200 years from now his denomination would still be going strong. How much better to hope that 200 years from now God’s glory will be inhabiting His People who have been perfected into One in Jesus Christ? How much better to desire a creditable testimony to the world of the Father’s love for the Son?

 

Now for the dear reader who thinks I’m being a bit harsh, I only ask you to look around you. What do you see? Do you see Christians with a vision of the Church of Jesus Christ? Do you see Christians with an understanding of the Body of Christ? Do you see a People speaking of Jesus, speaking of Jesus to one another, to their coworkers, to their neighbors? Do you see a People whose hearts have been captured by a love for Jesus?

 

Do you see a People for whom the Body of Christ is more important than their denomination, their movement, their doctrinal distinctives? (Please understand, whether someone is in a denomination or is so-called nondenominational is irrelevant.) Do you see pastors in fellowship and in ministry and friendship across organizational lines?

 

Since we do not know who we are, we allow others to define who we are and to enslave us to their idols. Political idols, economic idols, national idols, sports idols, entertainment idols, racial idols, idols of pleasure, idols of possessions, worldview idols (including so-called “Christian” worldviews). We even craft idols from the Bible, such as “End Times” idols.

 

Revelation 11:2 speaks of the nations treading under foot the court outside the temple, the holy city. I wonder if “we” are the perpetrators, if “we” aren’t desecrating the holy city with our foolishness, with our pollution.

 

Are we not like the people in Haggai? These people were released from Babylon for the express purpose of rebuilding the Temple of God, and yet when they arrived in Jerusalem they were only concerned with their own houses (see Haggai).

 

We have been saved from sin and death to follow Jesus, to belong to Him, to be the Holy Temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:19 – 22; 4:1 – 16; 1 Peter 2:4 – 10), to be the Presence of God in the earth.

 

Now I realize that there are exceptions to our self-destructive behavior, but they are exceptions. Thank God for the exceptions, for I think they hold back a measure of the tsunami.

 

Only the Holy Spirit can bring us into the unity that Jesus prays for, we cannot organize this, we cannot program this, in fact, we must come to the end of ourselves, we must confess that “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it” (Psalm 127:1).

 

To lay down our lives for one another (1 John 3:16; John 15:12 – 13), includes laying down our preferences, our little religious houses, our theological and religious idols…our self-interest.

 

Is this possible?

 

The measure of a man, a woman, a family, a local church, a movement or denomination, an institution, is the measure in which it gives itself for others, the measure in which is lays down its self-interest, it’s life. This is the measure of Jesus Christ.

Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (29)

 

“But the older this world grows, and the more sharply the struggle between Christ and Antichrist grows, the more thorough also becomes the world’s efforts to rid itself of the Christians. To the first Christians the world still granted a space in which they were able to feed and clothe themselves from the fruits of their own labor. A world that has become entirely anti-Christian, however, can no longer grant Christians even this private sphere in which they pursue their professional work and earn their daily bread…In the end, Christians are thus left with no other choices but to escape from the world or to go to prison” (page 229).

 

Bonhoeffer writes as darkness descends over Germany, as he sees the church in Germany being swallowed up by the forces of nationalism, as pastors and their congregations capitulate to the demands of the state, aligning themselves with state agendas and abandoning Christ. Christianity and patriotism are becoming one in Germany. This is not the first time this has happened, religion has been used by the state throughout history to help the state achieve its ends, and the myth of Christian nationalism is a powerful seductive tool in both the East and the West. Democracies and totalitarian regimes both use the myth, constructing narratives which professing Christians accept and endorse, leading them away from Christ.

 

Bonhoeffer has forgotten that early Christians were not always able to work to support themselves. In some regions in ancient Rome Christians who belonged to trade guilds, which we might think of as union shops, were expelled from the guilds for refusing to pay homage to the guilds’ patron idols. If you were not a member of a guild you could not engage in that particular trade. Then we have the notable widespread persecution under the Emperor Decius (250 A.D.) in which everyone was required to offer an incense sacrifice to Roman gods in the presence of a magistrate, for which they received a certificate indicating their compliance with the edict. Those who refused were persecuted. Persecutions were often local, sometimes regional, and sometimes (as with Decius) they were across the Empire.

 

In our own day, earning a living as a faithful Christian can be difficult, there are professions and contexts in which Christians are marginalized, and countries in which being a Christian can mean the loss of employment and prison.

 

Whether in “open” or “closed” nations, if there is no conflict between the visible church – community and the world, it means that the visible church – community is abrogating its witness to Christ, for if we are faithful to Jesus Christ there will be conflict and persecution; the servant is not greater than his Master (John 15:18 – 16:4).

 

(When we engage in “marketplace ministry in the United States, are we equipping Christians with Biblical teaching on the Cross, obedience, and suffering for Christ?)

 

 “But the older this world grows, and the more sharply the struggle between Christ and Antichrist grows, the more thorough also becomes the world’s efforts to rid itself of the Christians.”

 

There are two ways to control others, one is through pain and the other is through pleasure. The first is straightforward, “If you don’t do what I want I will inflict pain on you.” In the West this pain may be the loss of employment, denied promotion, the withholding of an academic degree, ostracism, or legal penalties.  

 

The second can be subtle. The pleasure can be in the form of money, promotion, accolades, acceptance, perquisites, entertainment, and good food and drink. It can be open doors leading to proximity to power – the power can be corporate, academic, religious, political…proximity to power can be intoxicating and few people can resist its seduction.

 

Seduction is a greater threat to us in the West than pain. Once we have been seduced by pleasure, our resistance to pain crumbles, we are trapped in the good life, in the American Dream, and the professing church has descended into Babylon. The Cross then becomes an offense to us, even as it is to the world.

 

“Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and seducers will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:12 – 13).

 

Bonhoeffer adopts the Biblical teaching of two trajectories, that of those faithful to Christ and that of those under the domain of Antichrist. The visible – church community will overcome and prevail, the Stone cut without hands will indeed fill the entire earth, bringing an end to the kingdoms of this world. A tragedy is that those faithful to Christ not only face opposition from the world, but from a church that is falling away from the Lord Jesus.

 

“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1).

 

“Let no one in any way deceive you, for it [the Day of the Lord] will not come unless the apostasy comes first” (2 Thess. 2:3).

 

Here is the thing dear friends, apostasy need not mean the explicit verbal denial of Jesus Christ and the Bible, apostasy can be syncretistic, it can be a blend of Christ and nationalism, Christ and economics, Christ and politics, Christ and a social agenda, Christ and materialism, Christ and religious success.

 

Which is the greater danger to the average professing Christian, a teaching which explicitly denies Jesus Christ and the Bible, or a teaching and movement which blends other elements into Christ and the Bible and thereby seduces our hearts away from Jesus? Which is the greater danger, a movement which appears evil, or one which appears good?

 

If a pastor would not (let us hope) take his people to a brothel, why would he take his people into teachings and movements which draw their hearts away from Jesus Christ?

 

Again, the chapter title is The Visible Church – Community. Bonhoeffer is saying that we must have our own space, for we, as the Body of Christ, are distinct from the world. We are to live and breathe in Christ, we are to be joined to one another in His Body. We are not to be subsumed and enveloped and find our identity in politics, economics, nationalism, materialism, hedonistic pleasure, racial identity, or even in religious tradition – we belong to Jesus and to Jesus alone, He is our Husband we are His Bride (2 Cor. 11:2  -3) and nothing is to come between Jesus and His Bride, nothing.

 

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you” (Isaiah 60:1 – 2).

 

“Who will separate us form the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35 – 39).